Punjabi Dum Aloo (Vegan)

Punjabi Dum Aloo is rich, creamy yet vegan curry in which baby potatoes are simmered in a delicately spiced tomato based gravy.

Once in a while I indulge… in cooking and eating. Everyone deserves a reward for working hard all week. And a long weekend is the perfect time to indulge. Don’t you agree?

I never buy potatoes with any specific plan of using them. I just add them to any mix vegetable thing I’m cooking or when there are fussy eaters around. Coz which fussy eater does not like potatoes, right?

But when I saw these cute little baby potatoes in the supermarket, I wanted to buy them and make them shine. What better dish to cook with baby potatoes than Punjabi Dum Aloo.

There are different types of Dum Aloo all over India, there is a Kashmiri Dum Aloo, a UP Dum Aloo and a Bengali Dum Aloo as well apart from the Punjabi Dum Aloo. Each one has a different kind of gravy the baby potatoes are simmered in.

I'm trying to find traditional recipes for the remaining Dum Aloo since I've never tried them. If you have one, contact ME! I would love to try out the other varieties and compare them.

I've tried to keep this indulgent Punjabi Dum Aloo as healthy as possible without losing out on the taste. Some of it's highlights:

It is VEGAN - Yesss! Vegan yet creamy is obtained by the addition of a silky smooth Cashew nut paste. Being a Goan, I love my Cashews in anything and everything, so why not in a Punjabi Dum Aloo. Bring it ON! A more traditional Punjabi Dum Aloo has added yogurt or thick cream. I skipped both and only increased the quantity of cashew nuts used. This gave me all the creamy texture without any dairy in it. Hurray!!

Potatoes are boiled, not fried - A lot of Punjabi Dum Aloo recipes call for deep frying of the potatoes. While everyone loves deep fried potatoes, they are not so much in line with the whole eating healthy food movement. So I boiled them and then tossed them in a hot pan to get a slight char. Feel free to bake them as well. Give it your own twist.

Quick cooking - Dum Pukht is a form of cooking in which meat or vegetables are cooked over a very low heat in sealed containers. This helps develop flavor. While this makes a major difference to meat (at least that's what I've heard), it barely does much for the potatoes in this case. Hence. I pressure cooked the potatoes and later simmered them for a while in the gravy. I can assure you, no flavor was lost in this process.

If you liked this, you may also like

Gobi Mussallam - Cauliflower cooked in a mild creamy sauce. You can make it vegan by using soy or almond milk.

Method:

Heat up 1 cup of water and soak the cashew nuts in it for half an hour.Wash and scrub the baby potatoes and place them in a pressure cooker or a deep pan. If using large potatoes, then peel them and dice them into 1" sized pieces.Add 1 tsp of salt and enough water to cover the potatoes. Boil until the potatoes are cooked through but not mushy. In a pressure cooker, it takes around 1 whistle.Peel the baby potatoes.Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a pan and once it heats up, add the potatoes in it. Toss the potatoes until they are browned slightly and keep aside.Puree the cashew nuts and keep aside.Puree the onion and the tomatoes separately.Heat the remaining oil in a pan and add the black cardamom, cinnamon and the bay leaf. Fry for approximately 1 minute.Add the onion puree, garlic paste and ginger paste and fry on low heat until for 8-10 minutes till the paste becomes golden brown or the oil separates.Add the tomato puree and fry on low heat for another 8-10 minutes until the oil separates.Now add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala and coriander powder and mix well.Cook on low heat for another 3-4 minutes.Add the cashew puree and fry for another 4-5 minutes.Now add the potatoes, salt and 3/4 to 1 cup of water and cook until the gravy thickens. At this point you can add more chilli powder if required.Add the kasuri methi and simmer for 1-2 minutes.Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with Roti or Rice.